


Saved from the Storm

by ewinkie



Series: Zutara Drabble December 2020 [8]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Book 1: Water (Avatar), But she's not captured so much as plucked from the raging sea in the middle of a huge storm..., Episode: s01e12 The Storm, F/M, Interpret that how you will, Iroh being Iroh, Katara does become Zuko's prisoner..., Rescue, Season/Series 01, Soft Ponytail Zuko, Zutara Drabble December 2020, and nothing romance-y while she's on the boat, capture fic?, yep you read that right
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:41:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ewinkie/pseuds/ewinkie
Summary: "It occurs to him as he’s checking her pulse—she’s alive, but barely—that she looks like something out of a fairytale. In hindsight, he should have noticed that her clothes and the beads in her long hair were the exact same color as the necklace tied tightly around his wrist."During The Storm, Katara falls off of Appa, and is rescued by none other than Prince Zuko.Chapter One is written for Zutara Drabble December, Day 19: Crashing WavesChapter Two is written for Zutara Drabble December, Day 21: Tired of These Walls
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zutara Drabble December 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038174
Comments: 13
Kudos: 84
Collections: ZK Drabble December 2020





	1. Chapter 1

A sharp _crack_ of lightning.

An overwhelming light, matched only by the blinding darkness of the storm.

Water surrounding her on all sides, making her far more drenched than any waterbender ever should be.

A gust of wind rustling her hair, then a jolt, and then her stomach is lurching.

Falling, falling, fall—

* * *

His helmsman is being safely passed down to the deck, but Zuko remains halfway up the ladder. He can barely make anything out in the storm, but he swears he just saw the avatar’s—

“Zuko! Come down. You do not want to stay up there and get struck by lightning.” He’s turning to yell back, but something moving pulls his attention away. He squints in that direction, and sees a flash of blue—a light, pretty blue, not the deadly hue of the waters around them—then a splash, barely visible in the crashing waves.

His good eye widens when he realizes what it means. Soon, his feet are back on the deck, and he races to the side of the ship, pointing where he saw it. “We need to go that way! As fast as we possibly can! I think I saw someone in the water!” He bellows the order as quickly as he can while still being understandable—he gets several eyebrows raised and scowls until he mentions the person in danger—and soon enough, his men are steering the ship that way.

But it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be enough. He wants to yell and scream and tell his crew to go faster, but they’re already frantic as it is. Fidgeting with the waterbender’s necklace, a nervous habit he’s picked up recently, he yells, “We have to save them!” He needs to calm his breath and fix the shaking in his voice if he wants to contribute at all, but what if they don’t get there in time? What if this person _dies_ because he didn’t give the order soon enough? What if—

Uncle places a gentle hand on his shoulder. In most other circumstances, the gesture would make him angry, as though he’s being treated like a child. But right now, he doesn’t have the emotional capacity to care about childishness. Right now, he’s scared and his uncle is trying to comfort him.

After a few minutes that last an eternity, someone’s calling, “We found ‘em!” There’s the clanking of metal chains as the person is hauled up by nets usually used for fish. He rushes as fast as his legs can carry to make sure that they’re—no, _she_ ’s—alive. He pulls her into his arms, and lays her gently onto the floor, frantically brushing sopping wet hair off of her face and calling for the medic.

It occurs to him as he’s checking her pulse—she’s alive, but barely—that she looks like something out of a fairytale. The ones his mother would tell him, complete with happily ever afters. It’s a ridiculous and distracting thought to have given the circumstances (he later attributes it to relief that she’s still alive), but when a burst of lightning illuminates her, all he can think about is how she looks like a benevolent spirit, untouchable and real at the same time.

In hindsight, he should have noticed that her clothes and the beads in her long hair were the exact same color as the necklace tied tightly around his wrist. But… he doesn’t. At least, not until the medic arrives and exhales sharply.

At first, Zuko misinterprets. “Is she going to be okay?” he asks, once again panicking.

“Yes, Prince Zuko, I believe so…” is the cautious reply. “But, sir—and I apologize for asking this—but are you sure you want to aid the avatar’s waterbender?”

* * *

When Katara awakes, she’s in an unfamiliar place. There’s a mattress beneath her, a blanket over her, and a whole lotta red. Before she can take in anything else in, she turns and half-vomits, half-coughs up what feels like an entire ocean, almost unaware of the person holding her hair away, and patting her back. Almost.

Once the entire hydrosphere has left her respiratory and digestive systems, she gets the chance to look around the room. On one side, she sees a pair of swords mounted elegantly to the wall. As she turns her head the other way, she glimpses a fire nation insignia. Fear sets in, so she whips her head the rest of the way around, and finds her nose an inch away from Zuko's.

For a moment they just sit there. His eyes are as big as saucers, and he’s still holding the ends of her hair.

But once she gets her wits about her, she screams, and scrambles away from him. “What are you doing here?!”

“What am _I_ doing here? These are my quarters!” She yelps, and shoots out of the bed— _his_ bed. “You really shouldn’t—"

“Get away from me!” After about one and a half steps, she collapses onto the floor. Unable to escape, she glares up at him. “What did you do?” she snarls.

He drops his hands, which he’d previously held in front of him, as a shield of sorts. The calm fingers turn to fists at his sides. “What did _I_ do?! I plucked you from the ocean in the middle of a giant storm, rescuing you from certain death! The least you could do is act _grateful_.”

She’s about to sneer and make some comment about how he must think her an idiot—the idea of him _saving_ her is laughable—but then the door opens, and two men come in. One of them is older, with kind, twinkling eyes Katara often recognizes in her Gran-gran. The other is a gruff man, who looks to be in about his late twenties.

“Ah, good. You’re awake,” the older man says.

“Uncle, how did you know that?”

“Prince Zuko, the real question you should be asking is whether or not your father back home could hear your arguing.” Zuko at least has the decency to turn bright red at that comment.

The second man grips her by the cheeks, and starts turning her head around and checking her pulse. “Get _away_ from me!” she hisses.

“He’s just trying to help you!”

“Do you honestly think I’m stupid enough to believe that?!”

“Enough!” The old man—Zuko’s uncle, apparently—interjects. “Lee, stop manhandling the poor girl. You can continue your check-up when she feels ready. Her condition seems stable enough for now. Prince Zuko, she just woke up on an enemy ship. Her caution and distrust are both understandable and wise, given the circumstances. Lee, if you would be so kind as to wait a little while, until Miss?”

“Katara. Just Katara’s fine”

“Until Katara is ready for your assistance.” Lee bows and leaves. “Zuko, could you please go to my quarters and fetch my tea set? I think explaining the situation to Katara would go much better with a calming cup of jasmine tea.” Scowling, the Fire Prince obeys.

Katara doesn’t really know what exactly just happened. Waking up in an enemy’s bed, and then being manhandled and yelled at are a lot to take in, even without adding the calm and respectful demeanor of a Fire Nation royal. Still, she finds herself trusting Zuko’s uncle. His defense of her actions may have saved her.

He sits down cross-legged a few feet away from her. “Now, Katara, I’m sure you’re curious as to why you’re here.” She nods. “First and foremost, you should know that you were not initially brought aboard as a prisoner. Whether or not you become one is for my nephew to decide, but I thought it important that you understand our intentions fully.”

“What _are_ your intentions?”

“We first brought you aboard after my nephew saw you fall into the ocean during the storm. Zuko did not know that it was a friend of the avatar’s at the time.”

“Forgive me, but Zuko doesn’t quite seem like the rescuing type.” She ignores the vague memory of falling off of Appa that corroborates the old man’s story. He doesn’t seem offended. He merely shakes his head.

“I understand that your interactions with my nephew have not been positive. As I said earlier, your distrust is to be expected. But I assure you, Prince Zuko is not the angry boy he makes himself out to be.”

The Fire Prince throws the door open and slams it once more, bringing the tea set to his uncle while glaring at her. She sneers back.

 _Sure, he’s not_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, you may be wondering how Katara managed to not drown while she was unconscious in the water. She had an waterbending response that kept her afloat enough to live, but Zuko was looking on the other side of the ship as they lifted her out of the water.
> 
> Also, why they placed her in Zuko's room instead of a prison cell or a different room shall be discussed in the next chapter. ;)
> 
> Also also, Piando tells Sokka that there's a million Lees in season 3. However, Zuko seemed to already have this information in season two when he chose his alias. Therefore, my headcannon is that Zuko knew like 20 different Lees, so I think it's fair game that at the very least, someone on his ship be named Lee. Perhaps there are more... Perhaps they're all named Lee...
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to go up four days ago for the "Tired of These Walls" prompt, and then I didn't write it in time. Oops. 
> 
> Welp. It's here now. Enjoy! :)

Of course the waterbender would be ungrateful. Of course she’d refuse _his_ help, but gladly accept kind words from Uncle. And, _of course_ his uncle would think that conversations with an unofficial prisoner are the perfect occasion to drink tea.

He sets the tea set down firmly on the short table, causing the fragile china to clatter, and even making one cup fall on its side. His uncle pretends not to notice. The water tribe girl does not.

She glances down at the toppled cup, and glares at him, one eyebrow raised.

“ _What_.” He chokes out the word.

“That was rude of you.” The statement is cold and matter of fact.

“Rude of _me_?!” He looks to Uncle for help, but the old man has decided to become fully absorbed in heating the water and preparing the tea.

“Yes. I don’t know what manners they teach at the Fire Nation Palace—though perhaps they only teach warmongering—but in the South Pole, slamming door and tent flaps, as well as _throwing_ fancy tea sets—”

“Well, they _clearly_ don’t teach you to be grateful when somebody _risks the lives of themselves and their entire crew to save yours_!”

She just scoffs. “As if you didn’t do that just to get information out of me.”

“I didn’t know it was you!”

“Ahem.” Uncle finally intercedes. “Katara, as I told you just now, we did not know who you were when we first decided to rescue you. As you’ll certainly recall, it was quite dark during the storm, and our only indication that you were in the water was Zuko catching a glimpse of motion. We had no way of knowing.” Zuko smirks, but then Uncle Iroh turns to face him.

“Prince Zuko, there is no need to be so very angry at Katara for not trusting us. I daresay you’d do a lot worse than simply call her rude if you woke up on the avatar’s bison.” Hmph. Much as he’d like to argue, Uncle isn’t wrong. He would probably shoot fire at her and her friends.

The issue with Uncle’s logic is that Zuko _has_ to chase the avatar. Not only is it his destiny, but _he has no other choice_. This girl, _Katara_ , isn’t honor-bound to help the avatar in any way. She put herself in this situation. She made herself his enemy of her own volition.

“Now, I’m sure she has questions, and it would be best if we answered them.” It doesn’t escape Zuko’s notice that Uncle gives the girl her tea before passing a cup to Zuko. “Katara, what would you like to know?”

The girl’s tense demeanor melts immediately upon his uncle’s question. “Why am I here? Why am I not in a cell?”

Uncle looks to Zuko to provide the answer. Great. “It’s so the rest of the crew doesn’t see you.”

“ _What?_ Why?”

“So that they don’t know I have the avatar’s waterbending girlfriend on board!”

“Why wouldn’t you want your crew to know? Spirits forbid someone thinks Zuko actually did a remotely good deed!” She flails her arms around to accentuate her point, before mumbling into her tea, “And I’m not his girlfriend.”

“You could've fooled me!”

“Would you just answer the question?!” she snaps. Uncle is glancing between the two of them over his tea. The intent is clear; he’ll break up a fight if he has to, but this is for Zuko to deal with.

“There are other people looking for the avatar, and—”

“You don’t trust your crew to not spill your secrets about me. That’s a pity. Really shows a lack of leadership abilities on your part.” She gracefully raises the cup to her lips and takes a sip, her blue gaze as cold and dangerous as the ice daggers of a true waterbending master.

Exhaling smokes, he replies, “It isn’t about _trust_ —”

“Oh, so you don’t value trust. That’s strange. Trust has always seemed to me like an integral part of any team. Maybe that’s why you keep losing to Aang.”

“ _Would you just let me finish?!”_

She closes her eyes and shrugs, then reinstates the eye contact. “Suit yourself.” He really wishes he didn’t notice the way he eyelashes slowly parted, revealing the cerulean glare underneath.

“If any Fire Nation officer who exceeds the rank of any person on this ship asks them for information, they are required to comply, regardless of my feelings on the matter.” He can’t _believe_ he forgot such a crucial rule when he paid a visit to Zhao. Though, admittedly, Zuko didn’t exactly have a lot of secrets worth protecting until recently.

She scoffs. “If you were just going to sit here and lie to me, you shouldn’t have bothered to come.”

“I’m not lying!”

“Oh, of course not! It’s not like you’re a prince or anything! It’s not like royalty outranks everyone else!” Her words cut through him like a knife. The brat is goading him, taunting him with the perks he would be allowed if he’d been a more honorable man, a better son.

He slams his teacup down, stands up, and walks out of the room, making sure to slam the door.

The sounds of teacups clattering and Katara’s indignant scream should make him feel better.

But they don’t.

* * *

“Definitely not angry at all.” Iroh sighs. Katara’s correct; his nephews behavior certainly did not corroborate what he told her about him. “I’ve had enough of the lies! What’s your plan with me?!” Iroh takes a deep breath and a sip of tea. “Answer me!”

For a moment, he is shocked by how similar she is to Zuko. The anger, the frustration, the mistrust… it’s all very familiar to him. Luckily, he’s got three years of experience with it all. “Katara, I’m afraid there is much that you don’t know about my nephew.”

“Like, I’m gonna fall for _that_ again—”

“Please let me finish.” She looks down sheepishly at her cup and takes a sip. “Much of my nephew’s past is well-known in the fire nation, and most parts of the Earth kingdom. You were correct in assuming that royalty outranks just about all other Fire Nation officers. However, this power is not extended to _banished_ royalty.”

“Wha…” The girl has looked up from her tea, mouth hanging open. He nods.

“Prince Zuko was banished from the Fire Nation three years ago.”

* * *

With those words, something in her perception of Zuko shatters. “I-I didn’t know.” The only one with the power to banish a prince would have to be another royal. Someone in his _family_ sent him away.

“Your ignorance of this is not your fault. However, I believe my nephew may have thought that you did know. And that you were taunting him.”

“Oh.” _Oh. That’s why he got so angry_. She looks back into the cup once more, looking for a way out of this awkwardness. “So, he wasn’t lying about his crew?”

Zuko’s uncle shakes his head. “He was being perfectly honest. My nephew often feels quite trapped by his banishment, so any direct reminder of it pains him greatly. I wish it did not hurt him so… but this is not what you wished to speak of, is it?”

“No, not exactly.” Somehow, this old man can read people like a book. It’s an act of empathy she hadn’t expected from the Fire Nation. “What are Zuko’s plans for me? Am I a prisoner?”

The old man sighs. “We haven’t fully figured that out yet. A Fire Nation commander by the name of Zhao, who’s also tracking the avatar, has been unnecessarily cruel to Prince Zuko. I know that you’d rather your friend not be captured at all, but believe me when I say it would be much better for him to be captured by Zuko than Zhao. Much as he refuses to see it, Zuko has far more honor in him than the commander, and many other Fire Nation officers.

“We don’t want Zhao to know that Zuko has you here, for your safety as much as anyone else’s. Zhao initially found out that the avatar was alive because the crew had to tell him.”

Katara doesn’t want to feel sympathy for Zuko. She doesn’t want this scarred prince to become anything more than the enemy with the ugly ponytail. But much as she’s loath to admit it… it sort of seems like Zuko’s life sucks. She can’t deny that him chasing Aang is wrong, and she’d protect the avatar with her dying breath, but… Zuko’s anger, at the very least, seems justified.

“So… can I not leave this room? What about when Zuko wants to…” Wants to sleep. Wants to get dressed. Wants to do tend to his clearly high maintenance hair style (she’s seen the effort it takes to keep a head that shiny). “Well, to live here, what—”

“Katara, I’m afraid we haven’t figured that out yet. Most of the crew knows we have a girl around Zuko’s age on board, as they helped get you out of the water.” All she remembers from that night is some clattering, and then her soaking wet hair being pushed frantically yet gently out of her face. “We could transfer you to another room in the dead of night, but it’d be suspicious if nobody from the crew ever saw you.”

The old man strokes his beard in thought. “But that is something we shall have to discuss with Prince Zuko. I’m guessing you’d like a moment alone to find your bearings. I’ll have someone drop off some clean clothes for you in a few minutes.”

She looks down (something she should have done a long time ago, all things considered) to see that her tunic is still intact. Faded, frayed, and smelling mildly unpleasantly of seaweed, but intact enough that she feels no embarrassment.

“Thank you…”

“Iroh.”

“Thank you, Iroh.”

“It is not a problem Katara. If you wish, I can talk to my nephew, and ensure him that you meant no harm.”

She really shouldn’t care how Zuko feels about her. She shouldn’t care that he seemed genuinely hurt by her comments, and she shouldn’t care if he thinks she was trying to be mean to him. Heck, she _should_ be trying to be mean to him!

But for some spirit forsaken reason, the thought of Zuko knowing that she hadn’t been taunting him so cruelly makes her smile. So she nods to Iroh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick clarifying point, Zuko and the firebending crew (which should be a band name, btw) were able to quickly dry Katara's clothes by using controlled firebending to evaporate the water, saving everyone's favorite ponytailed prince from the awkwardness of undressing an unconscious, pretty girl. Not to worry, though—our boy still has much awkwardness in him, yet!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it!


End file.
